The soundtrack could be “All My Mistakes”. Subsonica took her to Sanremo 2000. However, here we are not talking about the mistake of a season or a phase of life. Here the vice is recurrent, at times inevitable, tragicomic. Because, let’s face it, the winter transfer window is a trickle of hope that trickles into the lives of fans and clubs. It is the illusion that the mistakes made can still be repaired, certainly by searching, and that there really is a second possibility looming on the horizon. Is there a more comforting thought? Life almost never allows you to correct your aim in January. The transfer market yes. But the danger lurks in the opportunity. That bristly feeling that explodes inside you when you discover that you haven’t fixed anything at all. Indeed, you made a mess. Let us review, then, a series of historical horrors that emerge from the past. A warning to be more careful today? Nope: it happened and will happen again, forever and ever.
Fabio Junior at Roma – 1999
Zeman said it clearly, but no one takes issue with it. He would like a certain Shevchenko, but the Roma management thinks differently. And he gives him this 30 billion purchase of the old lire. His nom de guerre is Fabio Junior. Brazilian, potential thoroughbred bomber, comes from Cruzeiro. There they nicknamed it “Hurricane”. Oh well, we don’t know him much but he will be irrepressible, the fans murmur. Not at all: 16 appearances and 4 goals in a season and a half, before being repackaged and sent back to Brazil. “Small breeze” would have been more appropriate.
Sleeves at Inter – 2008
That’s it, Inter finally has an acrobatic winger. A crack of international importance. He skips past men with disarming ease, crosses divinely, and even knows how to score from outside. Number 28 shirt for him. His name is Maniche and he arrives on loan with the right to buy set at 6 million euros. At Mourinho’s Porto he showed sumptuous things. And his CV also includes prestigious experiences at Chelsea and Atletico Madrid. The conditions seem excellent. He will make 11 appearances and one goal, before returning to where he came from.
Nicolas Anelka at Juve – 2013
Led by Antonio Conte, the Old Lady is aiming to win the scudetto and needs another reliable striker. He arrives, Nicolas Anelka, already sought after for many years by Juventus. He releases himself from Shanghai Shenhua and no one expects him to score 15 goals, but from someone of his caliber you would still expect some success. Instead he only made three appearances in the championship and cups, winning the title as a paid spectator.
Anderson at Fiorentina – 2014
At Manchester United he can no longer find space among the starters, but everyone knows that he is a player of world-class importance. So, when the management took Anderson on loan with the right to buy in 2014, the Fiorentina fans were over the moon. It’s a shame that the player who goes on the field for just seven games will turn out to be weak and slow. A ballast rather than an added value. Money very badly spent
Krzysztof Piatek at Milan – 2019
At Genoa he broke the doors: 13 goals in the first 19 days.
Milan allocated 38 million euros to sign him and he, Krzysztof Piatek, repaid the trust by scoring another 9 times in the Rossoneri shirt. However, it is not a story with a happy ending: in the summer he takes magkia number nine and suddenly turns pale, until he disappears from the pitch. At the end of the season the Devil will sell him to Hertha Berlin.